


Natural and Expected

by jdjunkie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, New Year fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-31
Updated: 2011-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-28 14:18:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdjunkie/pseuds/jdjunkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In vino veritas ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Natural and Expected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princessofgeeks](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=princessofgeeks).



“I think it’s actually kinda sad.”

Jack winced inwardly. Carter was getting to that stage of being drunk where the melancholy was overwriting the ridiculous. A melancholic Carter was a thing to be avoided at all costs. Still, he was prepared to cut her some slack. She’d been worn thin by her abduction by Conrad and Teal’c’s unexpected sojurn in the Gate buffer. They were all a little close to the edge.

“It’s not sad, Carter. It makes total sense. We spend the vast majority of our time working a job that does not encourage outside friendships. Hence, being together on New Year’s Eve is natural and expected. Not sad in any way.”

“But we should be out partying or snuggled up in front of the fire with our significant others.” Sam waved a hand to emphasize her point and sounded almost on the verge of maudlin tears. Her flailing hand knocked her empty wine glass off Jack’s coffee table. Looking up from her position laid in front of the fire, head resting on a throw cushion, she whispered, “Whoops,” and then grinned apologetically. She flopped back to the ground again dramatically. “My revo- revel- resolution is to find a significant other next year. Human, not alien.” She hiccupped.

Jack sighed. He leaned down from his seat on the couch and picked up the glass, placing it back on the table.

“It’s empty,” Sam said, raising her woe-is-me level significantly.

Beside Jack, Teal’c rose to his feet gracefully. “Do you require more wine, Major Carter?”

“I do,” Sam said.

Teal’c inclined his head and headed for the kitchen.

“T,” Jack called, waving an empty Guinness bottle. “There’s another bottle out there. Bring it with you.” If Carter was getting melancholy, Jack would race her there. There was nothing worse than watching someone leave you behind in the mildly drunk phase while they hurtled towards “You’re my best friend in the entire world, you know that?” by way of “I wish (insert name) was here. It’s so lonely without him/her.”

“I don’t think it’s sad at all.” Daniel. Sitting in the chair across from the sofa, one leg slung carelessly across the arm, bottle of Belgian beer dangling from the fingers of his right hand. “You spend the holidays with the people you’re closest to. Hence, as Jack said, natural and expected.”

Daniel was slightly drunk, nowhere near daft and a million miles from melancholy. He did look deliciously rumpled though, shirt crumpled and untucked from his jeans, hair mussed from running his hands through it while explaining worldwide rituals connected to the dawning of a new year –  gifts of coal for the fire, bread for the table. Jack hadn’t taken it all in. He’d been too busy watching Daniel’s hands tell the story, watching his eyes light up with the joy of sharing knowledge. He’d spent too much time watching Daniel lately. Couldn’t seem to help it. His eyes were drawn to the man as much as his heart was.

“I thought I’d be with someone by now, you know?” Carter nodded her thanks to Teal’c, who placed a full glass of Pinot Grigio on the table and a bottle of Guinness in Jack’s hands. “Someone to come home to.”

“You never _go_ home,” Jack said, feeling the point should be made.

“Well, maybe I would, if there was someone to go home _to_. Someone handsome and smart and good in bed.”

Jack coughed as the Guinness went down the wrong way. Daniel sprayed Leffe everywhere. Teal’c raised an eyebrow and halted the glass of fruit of punch halfway to his lips.

“What?” Sam asked, turning her head to take in three dumbstruck teammates. “Come on. It’s what we all want. Everyone needs a really good --”

“Woah!” Jack said loudly. “Carter! TMI!”

“Perhaps I should contact Dr. McKay and tell him you wish to date him,” Teal’c suggested. Helpfully, Jack thought.

Sam gave Teal’c her best “Oh, please” look. “Daniel ... back me up on this. I know you want some hot guy waiting at home with a big smile and a bigger --”

“Sam!” The pleading note in Daniel’s voice brought Jack up sharply. If Daniel had been slightly drunk before he was now suddenly fully sober and looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“Whoops. Again. I’ve let the cat out of the bag, haven’t I?” Sam raised her hands to her face and moaned softly, and then burped, just for good measure.

“Not cat, no bag,” Daniel said, smiling the weakest smile Jack had ever seen, eyes avoiding everyone.

“I’m sorry,” Sam said, the words muffling between the fingers clamped over her mouth. “I promised I wouldn’t --”

“Sam,” Daniel said, levelly, “please.”

Sam moaned theatrically. “Too much wine. It’s me, _I_ want a hot guy. That’s what I meant. Hot and horny and ...”

 “Okay, moving on,” Jack said, keen to ease Daniel’s obvious discomfort, although his mind was doing anything but moving on and trying very hard not get the wrong end of a very big stick here.

“A bigger what?” Teal’c asked, never one to let a puzzle go unsolved.

“Glass of red wine,” Daniel said quickly, his cheeks going an accompanying shade of blush pink. “I love a big glass of red wine at the end of a hard day. Big glass. Bigger than you could possibly imagine.”

Teal’c did the eyebrow thing again. “I believe Major Carter was referring to something else entirely, Daniel Jackson. The fact that you appear to be blushing merely confirms my opinion that the ‘bigger’ is of a sexual nature.”

“I’m not blushing,” Daniel said, voice laced with growing despair.

“Actually, you are,” Jack said.  “Lots of things make you blush. Women mainly,” he added, casting around frantically for something that would satisfy the behemoth that was Teal’c’s curiosity. “Satterfield had you turning puce,” he concluded.

“I was ... she was ... I’m not used to people having crushes on me.”

From the floor, Sam laughed until she snorted. “Daniel, half the known universe has a crush on you. Lieutenant Satterfield, Destroyers of Worlds, Major Davis ...”

“Carter! Tricky territory here. Don’t ask, don’t tell mean anything to you?” God, he had to keep Carter away from alcohol in future.

“Don't ask, don't tell, don’t care!” Sam sat up, reached for her glass and downed the contents in one. Breathing heavily, she wiped her mouth. “Sir?”

“Carter?”

“Permission to pass out.”

“Permission,” Sam flopped down to the rug like a rag doll, “granted.”

Daniel let out a deeply held breath.

“In fact, I insist on it,” Jack finished, gulping down a healthy glug of stout.

Daniel reached for his jacket which lay beside his chair. He got to his feet and laid it gently over Sam, who was snoring softly, dead to the world. Daniel fussed with the makeshift blanket, pulling it up under Sam’s chin, tucking it around her body.

The room went unnaturally quiet. Jack placed his bottle carefully on the table.  Definitely time for a change of subject. “Pizza anyone? Had them deliver early. Waiting times on New Year’s Eve can be a bitch.”

“I should be ...” Daniel waved a hand in the direction of Jack’s front door.

“Daniel, it’s not yet midnight. We’re all seeing the new year in together.” Sam’s snoring grew louder. “Well, those of us who remain conscious anyway. Natural? Expected? Remember?”

Daniel stood gazing down at Sam, looking for all the world like the lost young man Jack found alone in the hallways of the SGC on his first night back on Earth. That had been five years ago. He’d come a long way since then, seen too much, lost too much, and somewhere along the way, Jack had lost his heart to him. Shutting Daniel out had been Jack’s only way of coping with feelings he could never act on for a whole myriad of reasons. It hurt both of them though, and he knew it, and never more than when he saw the strength combined with vulnerability that had drawn Jack to him inch by screaming inch. It was so much in evidence now, Daniel standing with hands in pockets, battling the flight or fight response that Sam’s drunken comment had evoked.

“Major Carter will sleep now,” Teal’c said.

“Sleep now, big headache later. Big, huge, massive headache later,” Jack said, eyes remaining on Daniel, wondering which way the spinning coin would land; stay or go.

“Maybe we should wake her up and give her water and aspirin,” Daniel said, wrapping his arms around himself. God, Jack hadn’t seen that gesture in forever.

“Nah. Let her sleep. She needs the rest. The hangover will be a reminder of why she hardly ever drinks. She’ll be fine.”

Daniel seemed unsure.

“I will sit beside her”. Teal’c crossed to where Sam lay and lowered himself gracefully to the floor, resting a gentle hand on Carter’s head.

Oh, how Jack envied the ease of movement. His knee twinged in envy. He clapped his hands. “Pizza,” he said, a little too loudly. “Teal’c, I’ll hold the olives, Daniel, no anchovies. And you’re both officially Philistines.”

Daniel was still standing in the middle of the room, hesitant, torn.

“Could use a hand in the kitchen,” Jack said, hoping to make up his mind up for him. Hoping to keep him in his house, keep him close. Eventually, after what felt like forever, Daniel nodded, and Jack led the way from the living room.

“Pizza boxes are in the fridge. I’ll fire up the stove.” Jack issued instructions as he opened cabinet doors to fish out plates.

Daniel took out four large boxes from the refrigerator, opened them up and began removing olives. “You got a knife so that I can scoop off these crimes against humanity?” He peered with disgust at the offending fishies.

“You like fish, Daniel. You have them in your house.” Jack handed him a small spatula.

“In a fish tank, where they belong. They most definitely do not belong on pizza.” He made a big thing of removing them and placing them on the lid of the box. “Why couldn’t you just order one pizza without olives and another without anchovies?”

“Because I refuse to be one of _those_ customers.”

“Because you’ll eat anything.”

“Except for Carter’s cooking.”

Daniel smiled. “Even Sam doesn’t eat her own cooking.”

It was good to see him smile. Smiles had been in short supply lately. It hit Jack with some force that he rarely saw Daniel smile these days. Was that because Daniel didn’t smile, or just didn’t smile around Jack? He could hardly blame him if it was the latter. From Daniel’s perspective, Jack had turned into someone he wouldn’t much want to be around; too harsh and cold and distant. Ironic that loving someone so much could do that to a man.

Jack took the pizzas as they became ready and loaded them on to trays for re-heating.

Daniel toyed with an olive. “You didn’t need me to take off the olives and anchovies.” He popped the olive into his mouth and look directly at Jack, blue eyes intense, challenging. Beautiful.

Jack futzed with the oven cloth. “I wanted to make sure you stayed.”

“Why?” Jack swore he heard the unspoken rider, “ _All the evidence lately has shown you’d rather I was anywhere but where you are.”_

Why. It was a small word, but laden with possibilities. _Because no one should be on their own at New Year. Because you’re my friend and I should start acting as though you are. Because I’m trying to find a way to tell you I love you._

“Because you seemed ... upset by what Carter said.”

Daniel looked away abruptly, picked at another olive. “Sam had too much to drink. She was just rambling.”

“Sounded like she really thought she’d let something slip. Given something away.”

Daniel swallowed, stopped playing with the olives. “You know Sam. Alcohol is not her thing. She’s a cheaper date than I could ever be.”

Jack risked moving closer. “Because I’m hoping it might be true.” He’d had no idea he was going to say that. He’d been planning a waspish retort along the lines of, _“No one’s a cheaper date than you, Daniel,”_ and then, bam, his big damn mouth had just run away with him. But it was okay, Daniel would shrug it off as a joke; Jack was a bit drunk, he couldn’t possibly mean it. But Daniel’s eyes, god, those expressive eyes were saying ...

“I --”

They were standing mere inches apart. The air between them was charged, echoing with a million half-finished arguments and conversations, of hugs and pats on the back that had always spoken loudly of friendship but whispered softly of something more.

Jack’s house phone, which was sitting on the kitchen counter, chose that moment to ring. They both looked at it as though it were the most intriguing alien artefact ever. Jack coughed, shuffled away from Daniel, breaking the spell. His heart was beating so hard he had to fight to make his voice sound normal. Not like someone who’d all but propositioned his closest friend.

“O’Neill.” Good, sounded relatively normal. He mouthed “Hammond” at Daniel and tried hard to concentrate on what was being said. It was hard. Half his brain was running the conversation they’d been about to have, along with its ramifications, which were huge and terrifying. After making all the right noises, he hung up and placed the phone on the counter with exaggerated care. “The Tok’ra just called, and not to say Happy New Year. There are rumors of a big System Lords summit. The Tok’ra want to talk. Briefing tomorrow.”

Daniel traced glyphs on the counter. “Then we’d better sober Sam up,” he said quietly.

“Daniel ...”

“Jack, please. Sam made a mistake. Leave it at that.”

“I can’t.” _Won’t. Am unable to, despite warning bells clanging loudly in my head ..._

Daniel pushed away from the counter. “Then I’m leaving.”

Jack reached out and clamped his hand around Daniel’s forearm. Daniel’s shirt sleeves were rolled up and Jack found warm skin. It was the first time he’d touched him in ... forever. “I need to know, Daniel. I need to know if you’re gay, bi, whatever, for work, yes, but for ... other reasons, too. It matters. _You_ matter. And in case you haven’t grasped it yet, I’m trying, in my own unique way, to tell you something pretty big and potentially career-threatening about myself here.”

Beneath his fingers, Jack felt Daniel’s body tense. “You really are, aren’t you?” His mouth formed a delicious O on the “you.” Jack tried and failed not to gaze at his mouth. His perfect, full, gorgeous mouth.

DanieI winced and studied the floor closely. “I haven’t felt like I matter to you for a long time. But, okay, you want the truth? Here it is. Unvarnished. And then I’m leaving. I loved Shau’ri with all my heart and I loved a college friend before that. He was gay.  I haven’t loved anyone since my wife except for you. You’re the someone I want waiting at home for me. Someone hot and handsome and hopefully good in bed. But I can’t have you and I never would have said anything, then you have to go and be so fucking persistent over Sam’s stupid comment. And now, if you’ve ever been my friend, you’ll let go of my arm and let me go home before I screw things up for us and the team forever.”

Jack’s mouth was dry. He wished the conversation was being recorded so that he could rewind and analyze and think things through before he said anything else. “I have a big smile,” he said, eventually, trying one on for size and hoping to defuse a little of the tension. “And an even bigger ...”

Daniel closed his eyes, tilted his had back and breathed out heavily. He huffed a small, reluctant laugh. “God, Jack,”  he said. Then he turned serious and yearning. "We can't."

"New year, new beginnings, Daniel. Maybe it's time to let go of the old crap. Give ourselves a chance." Jack relaxed his hold on Daniel’s arm but was reluctant to let go. He needed the connection. “I’m an ass, Daniel. I’ve pushed you away because I want you closer. You’re not the first man I’ve had feelings for but I’m kind of hoping you might be the last.”

Daniel turned towards Jack, eyes tracking down to where Jack’s hand rested on his arm. “We’d be breaking a lot of rules,” he said, softly.

“That’s on me, and if whatever we have compromises my leadership of the team than I resign my commission no question. But I’ve loved you for a very long time and SG-1 has done nothing but kick galactic butt in all that time.”

Daniel frowned. “We should tell Teal’c and Sam.”

“Nothing to tell yet.”

“You gonna put that right?”

“You sure you want this?”

With every word the distance between them closed. Years of feelings coalesced into one single, heart-stopping, life-changing moment. Jack shifted his grip on Daniel’s arm, tracing the feel of bicep through the cotton of the shirt. Then he kissed him. It wasn’t soft, it wasn’t hesitant. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. Daniel’s lips were warm and full and welcoming, his mouth as gorgeous as Jack had imagined. He kissed deeper. Daniel tasted like beer and home. It was bliss. It shouldn’t be this easy, feel this right.

Slowly, Jack drew back, anxious to see if Daniel was about to bolt. But Daniel was showing no sign of going anywhere. He was standing with his eyes closed, licking his lips slowly. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and Jack watched in delight as they crinkled at the corners to accommodate the lazy smile that was spreading across Daniel’s face.

“Now we have something to tell Teal’c and Sam,” Daniel whispered, raising his hands to run his thumbs across Jack’s cheekbones.

“It would seem you do.”

Jack jumped like a scalded cat. “T,” he managed, voice an octave higher than normal. “We were just ...”

“I believe the phrase was natural and expected,” Teal’c intoned, smiling ever so slightly. He carried the glass to the sink and filled it with water. “Major Carter is awake and complaining of a headache.”

In the distance, fireworks were shushing and banging. Jack’s mantel clock was striking midnight.

“To the new year,” Teal’c said, raising his glass.

“To the new year,” Jack echoed. _And new beginnings._

“Sir,” came an anxious voice from the living room. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”

Jack smiled at Daniel and Daniel smiled at Jack. “Natural and expected,” they said together.

The added, "Indeed," seemed to say it all.

ends


End file.
